First Things First
by Josephus2667
Summary: Updated: Buffy thinks she has some answers as to what's going on. Then she gets an unexpected visitor. First Spike and now Faith. But Faith has a dire warning for everyone. What could possibly happen next?
1. Chapter 1

BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER

FIRST THINGS FIRST

BY JOE TENGLER

CHAPTER ONE

The battle for the Hell Mouth was over. Buffy and her friends had beat the first evil, but it had cost them a terrible price. Anya, the ex-vengeance demon had been killed, and Buffy had lost Spike. Her second vampire lover had burst into flames, enabling Buffy to get the upper hand. As Buffy surveyed the damage to Sunnydale, her sister Dawn walked up to her. "What are we gonna do now, Buffy?" Buffy just smiled.

As the dust blew through the hole in the ground that had once been the town of Sunnydale, California, the first evil wandered through the crater, smiling at the damage. "It was a grand battle." The evil thought. "And I will have my revenge on the slayer….slayers." The evil thought back to the battle, to see if it could figure out exactly where and when it had lost the battle. "That witch is to blame for this!" Thought the evil. "If it weren't for her….." The first evil stopped in it's tracks. "That's where I need to concentrate! The witch!"

A year and a half later, a lot had changed in the lives of Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Xander, and Giles. After beating the First Evil, Buffy had needed a break, and she got one. A nice long break in Rome. There Buffy had met The Immortal, who had helped her get Dawn some proper Schooling, and had helped her deal with the void in her life left when Spike had died. But now, Spike was alive again, and Buffy wondered if she would ever see him again.

But now they were all in Cleveland, where there was another Hellmouth. Giles had opened a new Magic Box, and was running it with Xander. Even Though Willow loved Kennedy, she had let her go, when Kennedy was chosen to be the liason between the Slayers and the new Watcher's Council, which had taken Kennedy all the way to England and far away from her her. Willow was still adjusting to life without her lover, and not adjusting well. Buffy's sometime nemesis, sometime ally Faith was on an extende vacation wwith Robin Wood, trying to patch up their relationship, which had hit a few snags since it's initial strong start, and Buffy wasn't sure their issues could be worked out.

But this would all have to wait. There was a test coming, and Buffy wanted to see how her new protege would handle it.

Two teenagers were walking hand in hand under a starlit sky. Suddenly, there was a crash behind them, and they turned around to see a vampire running towards them. The girl screams, but quickly recovers. She kicks the vampire in the gut, sending it flying through the air. It crashes into a garbage dumpster and the girl leaps towards it, holding a stake. Using incredible strength, she throws the stake at the vampire. The stake impaled the vampire right in the heart, ending it's existence.

"What the heck was that?" Asked the boy. "Vampire." Came a voice from behind the garbage dumpster. "Vam….pire." Replied the boy. "As in Dracula?" Buffy stepped out from behind the dumpster, a smile on her face. "Actually, I've met Dracula. Kind of a wuss, actually." The boy, figuring this was just a bunch of girlpower Mensa garbage, said "whatever…." And was soon gone.

"He left!" Exclaimed the girl. Buffy the vampire slayer looked at the girl sympathetically. "All part of being a slayer, Helena. You will learn to expect that boys will be somewhat harder to come by, now." Now she looked sternly at Helena. "You will also learn to harness your new powers"

Helena had come to them shortly after they had arrived in Haridon, a suberb of Cleveland. She had been chased by a gang of teens who were harassing her, when suddenly she saw Buffy. Buffy jumped in the middle of the teens, making short work of the biggest of them before the others ran off. Helena explained that she had nowhere to go. Her mother had recently passed away, and her father had left years before. Buffy promised Helena she could stay with them in the Magic Box's spare room. It wasn't until a few nights later, when Willow was performing a locater spell for new slayers that they realized that Helena had imbued with the powers of the slayer. Since then, Buffy had been diligently training Helena in her new powers.

Helena looked at Buffy. "Just out of curiosity, Buffy." Asked Helena. "What?" "Well, I was just wondering why no one bothered to tell me that before?" With a mischievous smile Buffy replied "We didn't want to scare you off!" Both girls laughed as if they were two normal young ladies out for a night on the town. "Besides, Helena…" said Buffy. "What?" Replied Helena. "Well, I've seen the way you look at Xander!" Helena just smiled as they continued to walk. As they are talking and walking, they didn't see that they were being observed.


	2. Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

As Buffy and Helena are laughing, a familiar voice brings a smile to Buffy's face.

"Well, well, well. Look what we got here. Been a long time, eh, love?"

Buffy turned around to see a face she never thought she would see again.

"Spike!" 

She ran to him and hugged him tight, then pulled back. 

"What are you doing here?"

Spike answered her in a way she never expected.

"I don't rightly know." Buffy was highly confused by this. "What do you mean you don't know?" she demanded.

"Last thing I remember, luv, me and Angel was fightin' a horde of Pentak demons trying to over run L.A.. Next thing I know, I'm...here. Where is here, by the way?" 

Helena piped up "Haridon, Ohio."

Buffy and Spike began walking, Helena was amused by this weird man, whom Buffy obviously knew. Suddenly, Buffy reached out and hugged Spike, as if not wanting to let go.

"I knew you were alive, but I didn't think i'd ever see you again."

Spike noticed the tears welling in Buffy's eyes, and tried his best to comfort her.

Moments later, after the embrace Buffy had been dreaming about, she gratefully kissed Spike.

"Well, it's definitely you! At least we know you're still, well…you!" 

Spike, with a smile crossing his face that Buffy had nearly forgotten, replied

"Of course it's me, love. Anyways…who's your little friend here? Slayer in training?"

Buffy quickly brought Spike up to date.

"Her name is Helena Carmichael, and yes, she is one of the chosen. And this was her final test. She passed with flying colors too—even if it did cost her a boyfriend."

Buffy noticed Helena was somewhat upset, but she was not ready for what happened next.

"Oh, you mean the guy that ran away?"  
Helena nodded.

"Don't fret over him, love. He was a vamp!"

Helena was still somewhat shocked by all this.

"Buffy….who is this…person? And what does he mean Charlie was a vamp?" She demanded.

Buffy, somewhat embarrassed, decided Helena deserved to know the whole truth about Spike.

"Helena, this is Spike. He's my…friend. He's also a vampire."

As if on cue, Spike morphed into his vampire persona, causing Helena to look at them both with contempt.

"But Vampires are evil! Huh. I've heard everything now!"

She still had a stunned look, and had caught on that there was more to Spike and Buffy than either of them were letting on.  
Buffy, sensing Helena's confusion, said reassuringly

"Helena, it's ok! You see, Spike has a soul!" 

Then thinking she had better make sure Spike still did have a soul, asked him "You still have a soul don't you?"

Spike, deciding to have a little fun with this, said

"Yeah, like I'd tell you! It's all about Angel, ain't it? Just cause he got a soul first, everybody just assumes he's the better vamp!" 

This was almost too much for Helena to take in.

"Angel? Another vampire? This is like a bad soap opera or something!" Again, Buffy interrupted her.

"SPIKE!" She said sternly, as another thin smile crept across Spike's lips. "O.K., love. Yes, I still have my soul." Buffy looked happy. Happier, in fact than Helena remembered seeing her in quite some time.

"Good. Let's go find Giles!"

As they walked off, Spike replied 

"Oh great! Daddy dearest will be real happy to see me!"


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER 3**

At the Magic Box, everyone was gathered around waiting for Buffy to arrive. In the corner, Xander sat sulking. He was less than thrilled to learn that Spike was back in the picture. Helena walked up and tried to cheer him up, but it was no use. She had quickly learned that when Xander was like this, it was best to leave him alone. Willow was looking for a book among the stacks and volumes, when she suddenly noticed a tear running down her cheek. Xander noticed it also, and thought maybe the cure to his depression would be helping his best friend deal with hers.

Xander knew exactly why Willow was depressed. It was Kennedy, her former girlfriend. When they had moved to Haridon, Kennedy had wanted to come, but she was chosen by the new Watcher's council to be their liaison with the group, which necessitated her moving to England. Secretly, Xander was happy she was gone. He had never forgotten how Kennedy had gone against Buffy several times leading up to the big battle with the First last year. Not to mention, he didn't really think Kennedy was the right girl for Willow. He still thought it was strange that Willow was a lesbian, but he much preferred Willow's first girlfriend Tara to Kennedy. But Tara was gone now, felled by an assassin's bullet.

"Penny for your thoughts, red." Said Xander jokingly. "Just a penny?" Asked Willow. "Is that all I'm worth to you?" Xander smiled at that. He liked it when he and Willow could joke around, like the good old days at Sunny Dale High. "You really look like you could use a hug, Willow." Willow pushed back a strand of red hair, and swallowed hard. "Yes. Yes, I could." Xander looked sympathetically at her and said "I know I'm not exactly your type these days, but will I do?" Willow smiled and gave her friend a long hug, as they shared in each other's grief.

As they finished their hug, they could hear Buffy's chipper voice echoing through the shop. Soon, Buffy the vampire slayer appeared. "All right everyone," began Giles. "Now that Buffy's here we can get started." However, before anyone could say anything, Buffy raised her hand to ask a question. "Giles, I have a question." Giles thought there was something a little…strange with Buffy, but couldn't quite put his finger on it. Reluctantly, he let her ask her question.

"Well, it's just that, we shut down the hell mouth last year, didn't we?" Giles looked a little stupefied, but replied "Yes. Yes we did, Buffy." Buffy now had a real confused look on her face. "Well, I was just wondering. I mean, in the last few weeks we've had a tremendous rise in vampire activity. And also…all these dead bodies piling up around the city are starting to get on my nerves!" Giles was flabbergasted by this. "Well, Buffy…if you'll look around, you'll see the reason for that is that we are not in Sunny Dale! We're in Haridon."

Suddenly, another Buffy walked into the room, and upon seeing her doppelganger there said "What in hell? When did we get another Buffy-Bot?" Xander and everyone else suddenly did a double take. "Is it me, or are we seeing double?" Willow chimed in "No. I'm seeing it too." The Buffy Bot just stood there smiling. Giles walked up to it, and investigated it. "This is bizarre! The Buffy Bot was destroyed two years ago!"

Then Helena walked in, and, seeing both Buffy's asked "Buffy?" Of course both Buffy's replied simultaneously "Yes?" Willow was by this time starting to lose patience, and said "Enough! Which one of you is the real Buffy?" Both raised their hand. Then Xander had an idea. "Hey, easy way to solve this. Buffy?" "Yes?" They both replied. "What do you think of Spike?"

At the mere mention of Spike's name, Buffy Bot jumps on him and starts kissing him passionately. The real Buffy grabs her by the hair and yanks her off of Spike. "Hey! He may not be much of a man, but he is mine!" Suddenly, a strange noise came from the Buffy Bot. "SELF DESTRUCT SYSTEM ACTIVATED. 10---9---8" Xander jumped up quickly. "So…ummmm…does this mean we should run?" Giles gave him one of his sarcastic British looks. "Yes, I think that would be quite appropriate!" Everyone scurries out of the building and took cover as the Magic Box exploded.


	4. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER 4**

Buffy and the others stood in the aftermath of what had been not just their base of operations, but their home for the last two months. "Well, looks like we need a new base of operations, gang." Buffy said somberly. Then she noticed her former Watcher, Rupert Giles smiling. "What are you smiling about? We just lost our base!" Giles simply said "Oh, we should be able to recoup a nice windfall from the insurance!" Xander, astonished, asked "Does insurance cover things like this?" Giles laughed and replied "Oh, I found an insurance company that had a "Supernatural Package." It includes "Acts of God, Demons, the Supernatural and anything else mysterious," and I had the shop covered for $500,000!" Xander nodded, happy that, for once at least, things were going their way.

Buffy, on the other hand, was thinking of other things. "Not that this isn't an intriguing conversation, but we do have a slightly more pressing concern!" Everyone looked at her, somewhat startled by her frenzied attitude. Then Willow spoke. "She means where are we going to live until the insurance pays out." Giles gazed at Willow. She just hadn't been the same since Kennedy left to join the new Watcher's council. She reminded him of the Willow he had met eight years before—shy and unsure of herself, not of the self-confident, powerful witch she had become in recent years.

"I think what Buffy is referring to Willow, is that someone appears to be targeting us". Willow realized that was exactly what Buffy meant. "Exactly." Said Buffy. "And also, where did that Buffy-Bot come from?" As everyone looked curiously, Willow brought up the subject they all seemed to be avoiding. "Well…who do we know who's smart enough to build one? Or even re-assemble one?" Xander picked up on the same thought and asked "Well, who do we know that knew about the Buffy-Bot?" Willow seemed to get nervous at where this was heading. "Well…there's the obvious. Warren."

Warren was a geek. A nerd. A pompous little jerk who thought he could get away with murder. Literally. He had personally killed an ex-girlfriend and framed Buffy for the deed. He also was personally responsible for the creation of the original Buffy-Bot. He had created it for Spike. The reason the thought of Warren brought up so many ill feelings was what he did to Willow. Buffy had stopped one of Warren's nefarious schemes, and in retribution he had come looking for Buffy—with a gun. He not only shot Buffy—but an errant shot from his gun had gone through a window and hit Willow's girlfriend, Tara. Despite her great power as a witch, Willow was unable to save her beautiful girlfriend. The shock of losing Tara made Willow snap, and she gave free reign to all the evil in her, eventually hunting Warren down and killing him in a decidedly gruesome manner: She magically tore the skin away from his body, then made his body be consumed by fire.

"Well, I think we can rule Warren out." Said Buffy, more to ease her friend's pain, than because she thought he couldn't be responsible. Then Spike spoke up. "Does it really matter who's behind it? Whoever it is, this person's obviously too weak to fight for himself!" Willow chimed in "Or herself! It could be a woman!" Spike, a little annoyed at being contradicted, nonetheless admitted it could be a woman. "Or herself, so they built a robot. Doesn't sound like much of a threat to me!"

Though Giles agreed in principle, he also knew that this could be a bigger threat. "Spike does have a good point, but nevertheless, I feel we should take all precautions necessary." Then Xander, who had been quietly going over everything in his head, spoke up. "Ummmmm……I have a wild thought here." Giles usually didn't give much heed to Xander's theories, but on occasion they had proven valuable. "Yes?" Asked Giles. "Well," started Xander, "we do know someone who hung out with Warren." Willow realized who Xander was referring to.

"Duh!" She exclaimed. "Who's got Andrew's phone number?" Helena, who had been quietly observing Xander while listening to the conversation whipped out her cell phone. "Here it is!" Buffy looked at her, realizing she was happy to be of some use. "O.K. Helena, you contact Andrew. Find out whatever you can about what Warren was like before…you know. Xander and Willow, you're with me. Giles, Spike and Dawn…Stay with Helena, and try to find us a place to stay." Willow, curiosity eating away at her, asked "Where are we going, Buffy?" Buffy replied "We're going to look through the debris and see if we can find any clues." Xander, who was less than thrilled at the thought of trudging through fiery wreckage, sarcastically commented "Sounds like fun." Willow, who seemed giddy as a teenager, said "I think so, too!" Xander chuckled a little then said "I was kidding, Will."

Willow, realizing that Xander was being sarcastic, tried to cover herself. "Oh. Me too." Giles interrupted them. "If you find anything…." He in turn was interrupted by Xander. "We'll just leave it there and ignore it." He was met by a stern but humorous look from Giles. "Or bring it back to you for an exciting research party." Willow couldn't help herself. "Research party?" She asked excitedly. Then she realized Xander was just being his sarcastic self. "O.K. I'll be quiet now" She said as everyone chuckled at her.


	5. Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

Buffy, Willow and Xander walked among the fiery wreckage of what had been their home for the past 2 months. The smoldering rubble reminded Xander of a childhood memory: a burning building he had been trapped in until he was rescued by a fireman. He had gone around saying for days afterwards that he wanted to be a fireman when he grew up. He wondered what ever happened to those innocent days.

"What exactly are we looking for, Buffy?" He asked, coming out of his reverie of the good old days.

Buffy, who was scanning the area with her keen slayer sense, replied "Anything that…." She stopped as her eyes caught something. "…what's this?"

Buffy bent over and picked up a strange piece of metal. She realized it must have been part of the Buffy-bot at one time. On it was a pentagram, drawn out of what appeared to be blood, with crudely drawn flames surrounding it. Under the pentagram was written a foreign phrase. She handed it to Willow.

"I recognize the words. It's an ancient language used by dark sorcerers hundreds of years ago." Said Willow, a concerned look crossing her face.

"Well what does it say?" Asked Xander, somewhat impatiently.

Willow looked at it carefully, and then slowly pronounced the words. "Bach na Hell Gortha."

"And?" asked Xander again.

"Well, the rest of it is unreadable, but this part here translates to 'The mouth of hell will…." something."

Buffy looked startled. "The mouth of hell? As in the Hell Mouth?"

Willow nodded. "There is one here you know. But, I think we can assume it is not referring to the Sunnydale Hell Mouth, because this is in future tense….plus we….blew that up last summer."

Xander answered her with sarcasm, like he always did when he was nervous. "Good call there, Will."

Dawn, Giles and Helena had gone to a motel, and booked several rooms. At this moment, Dawn was out looking at places for them to think about buying. Helena was on the phone talking to Andrew.

"Yeah, it totally had me fooled! I thought it was Buffy and so did everyone else….even that Spike guy was fooled by it." She listened intently as Andrew spoke on the other end. "Yes, I will definitely tell everyone. This is really turning out to be quite the mystery! Bye, Andrew."

As she hung up on Andrew, Spike and Giles walked in.

"Any news on the "home" front?" She asked chipperly.

"Well now, doll, that depends." Spike replied. "If you like crypts, I found a cozy little place in the cemetery for next to….well for nothing, actually."

"No thanks." Responded Helena.

Then Giles interrupted. "Helena, did you find anything out from Andrew?"

"Yes. But it's something I think the whole group needs to hear."

Just then, Dawn came running in, an excited look on her face.

"Giles! You need to come. I found us a place to stay. It's a cute house on a corner, with plenty of room for all of us, and then some! It's fully furnished, and the bottom floor is completely empty!"

As the others digested this good news, nearby, they were being observed by a strange man hiding in shadows. He smiled a dark and hideous smile, thinking that he would finally have his revenge. On Buffy. On Xander. And on that whore of a witch, Willow Rosenberg.


	6. Chapter 6

CHAPTER 6

A few hours later, in a motel room, the group is all assembled and eager to hear the news. Giles opens the meeting by briefly reminding everyone of the current situation, then briefs everyone on the "home" front.

"I talked to the realtor, and he's agreed to take a ten percent down payment until the insurance pays out…unfortunately, we can't move in until the balance is paid, so it looks like we'll be staying here in the Grande Suite for the foreseeable future."

Everyone chuckled at his little joke, but they were all very happy to have a roof over their heads, even if it was a Red Roof Inn.

Buffy, however, had other plans. Turning to Spike, she whispered in his ear "Got room for me in the crypt?" A slow smile crept across Spike's face, as he nodded nonchalantly, anticipating a fun night of sex, or at the least, heavy petting.

Meanwhile, Giles was busily cleaning his glasses, and said nervously "Helena? Next item?"

Helena gladly took the spotlight off of Giles, figuring he heard some of the exchange between Spike and Buffy.

"O.K." she began. "I contacted Andrew in England and he gave me some pretty interesting information." She paused as she noticed Spike getting closer to Buffy.

Then Xander spoke up. "Well, don't keep us in suspense!"

Helena was startled out of her staring and continued.

"Andrew told me in his final days, before….." She caught Willow's eye and, realizing she had resurrected some bad memories, suddenly stopped and looked at the floor in embarrassment.

"It's o.k., Helena." Said an equally embarrassed Willow.

"Anyway," continued Helena, "Andrew said that Warren was getting into some pretty powerful magic there near the end.

At this news, Willow scoffed and said "Yeah, right! Like Warren would have know powerful magic if it snuck up on him and bit him in the butt!"

But Helena was ready for that argument, and had already countered it. "That may be, but Andrew also said that Warren was severely depressed toward the end. He was totally obsessed and out of character. Now, get this! He said Warren was seeing a doctor about some real bad headaches also.

Buffy was getting a worried look on her face, as myriad possibilities were swirling about in her mind. She didn't like where all this was leading.

"Willow, I need you to surf the net for me. We need Warren's medical records."

"What exactly are we looking for?" Asked the redheaded witch.

Buffy continued "Let's just say this is all starting to make a perverted sense, and I don't like it at all!

Suddenly, everyone's reverie is broken by a loud crash outside the door, and Buffy runs to the door, pulls it open, and finds a vampire stuck in the 1970's fighting a familiar dark haired girl.

"Delay my meeting, will you?" said the girl, kicking the vampire solidly in the privates, then plunging her stake deep into it, dusting it. Sge turns around and everyone is shocked to see Faith, the vampire slayer. "Hey, B. What's up?"

Buffy just started in stunned disbelief.


	7. Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Everyone stared in disbelief.

"Faith?" Buffy asked incredulously. "What are you doing here?"

"Well, it's like this B."

Faith began walking around the room, eyeing everyone. She recognized some of them, like Willow, Xander and Giles, but she didn't recognize the slender blonde eyeing Xander.

"I can't tell you yet who sent me here. She said she would make herself known when she's ready. All I can say is that you're gonna need me. And the others."

"Others?" asked Xander. "Who else is coming?"

"I don't know them all, but I do know one of them is Willow's old man, Oz."

Willow grimaced at the memory of her life before she realized who she was, sexually speaking. But she couldn't help but wonder two things. Who was sending the help their way and who else they could expect to come to their aid.

Later that night, Dawn and Willow are alone, getting some research done. Suddenly, a familiar voice echoed throughout the room. But neither of them ready for it.

"So, there you both are."

Dawn and Willow both looked up in stunned disbelief to see the shimmering figure of Willow's first girlfriend, Tara Maclay.

"T-T-Tara?" Exclaimed a stunned Willow.

"Wow." Was all Dawn could muster.

"Yep! It's me!" Exclaimed Tara.

"But…but how?" Asked Willow incredulously. "How is this possible?"

"Well, it's like this, sweetie. I'm here as a guide, to help you guys. There's something major coming, and I've been granted permission to give you guys whatever assistance I can. Which, unfortunately won't be much. I just wanted you guys to know that I'm available to you."

A look of recognition came over Dawn's face as things started to piece together.

"It was you who sent Faith, wasn't it?"

"Yes. And Faith is just the beginning."

"Yeah! She told us Oz was coming. When will he be here."

Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Then Tara was gone.

Dawn opened the door and gave a shriek of delight when she saw Oz at the door.

"Oz!" Exclaimed Willow, and hugged him.

"Hey Willow. How you doing?" Asked Oz.

"I'm good. Good. Ummmm, I'm still a lesbian, though, in case you, ummmm….had any ideas or anything."

Oz giggled. "Don't worry. I'm not here for that. We have much more important things to worry about."

"I know what you mean. Ummmmm….how are the herbs and meditation working for you?" Asked Willow.

"Well, since you asked, I don't need them anymore."

He could see the stunned look on Willow's face, and not wanting to cause her any worry, explained further.

"Tara came to me about two weeks ago and told me I was needed. More specifically, she told me my werewolf was needed. She gave me this pendant…" He showed them a little blue crystal attached to a necklace. "I can use this crystal to morph into my wolf whenever it's needed."

Willow was happy for her friend, knowing the struggle they had gone through many times when they were dating. "Wow! That's just….Amazing!" Exclaimed Willow.

They sat up the rest of the night, drinking coffee and getting reacquainted with one another.


	8. Chapter 8

CHAPTER 8

The following morning, everyone is eating breakfast at a little restaurant. Willow and Oz had just finished explaining about Tara's spirit, and everyone looked on incredulously.

"Are you sure it was Tara's spirit?" asked Giles in a somewhat disbelieving tone.

Willow, stung a little by the accusatory tone in the question, smartly replied: If anyone would know, don't you think it would be me?"

Giles nodded his agreement, but still had his doubts; however, his thoughts were interrupted by Buffy.

"I believe you Will, even if no one else does."

Giles gave her a stern look. "Buffy, may I ask why you so readily believe this fascinating tale?"

"Well Giles, you have to admit we've seen much more fascinating stuff." Giles again nodded his agreement. "Besides, it fits."

Xander, who had been concentrating on a humungous three egg omelet up until now, put down his fork and asked Buffy what she meant.

"Isn't it obvious to you all what we're up against here?" She asked incredulously.

Everyone replied with a resounding and synchronous "NO!"

Buffy sighed, shook her head in disbelief, and continued.

"It's all like a big jigsaw puzzle…we have all the pieces to figure out the puzzle…we just have to put them together. So let's put them together. First, we have the Buffy-Bot-Bomb. When we expected the wreckage, we found this." She shows everyone the piece of wreckage with the inverted hexagram. "Willow tells me this is part of a spell to create a new hell mouth, right here in River City." Xander chuckled at her reference to one of his favorite musicals. "Next, we have a very sick and extremely depressed Warren, just before he died. Helena talked to Andrew. What did he say, Helena?"

"Well, he confirmed that not only was Warren suffering from extremely painful headaches, but also a loss of equilibrium and severe mood swings….severe even for him."

Buffy had a glazed look in her eyes. "Does any of this ring a bell to anyone?"

No one spoke up until Dawn's squeaky voice mumbled "Mom."

Buffy nodded and continued.

"Yes. Willow checked the records, and sure enough, Warren was suffering from an inoperable tumor in his brain. Even if he would have survived Willow's assault, he wouldn't have lived for much longer. Add to that, according to Andrew, he was getting involved in some major dark magic….the kind that never leads to anything good. I think that before he died, Warren had cast a spell to create a new form for him to exist in. Somehow, he is back, and he has chosen now to strike."

The solemn looks on everyone's faces told Buffy they all realized the seriousness of the situation.

"So, what's our next move, Buffy?" Asked Willow.

Suddenly, the restaurant is filled with electrical energy. The staff and patrons all ran in astonishment. Then, a single form materialized in the midst of Buffy and the gang. It was Warren. He had a devious smile as he stood there, laughing hysterically.


End file.
